Now that the pesky penny is gone, how about getting rid of that nasty nickel?

As of today, the Royal Canadian Mint will no longer distribute the one-cent pieces to financial institutions while businesses will be encouraged to start rounding their cash-sales to the nearest nickel.

Retailers say goodbye to the penny

The penny phase-out is expected to save Canadian taxpayers $11 million a year in production costs and many more millions in increased productivity; according to the Epoch Times, one study estimated the cost of Canadians waiting in line to get pennies for change at greater than $20 million a year.

If you're sentimental about losing the penny, however, you're not going to like this story.

According to the National Post, there are some that are already planning the demise of the nickel.

"[NDP MP Pat Martin] plans to launch a private member’s motion by the end of the week to eliminate the five-cent coin and re-jig the rest of Canada’s currency. His “master plan” is to have a coin currency in multiples of 10s – 10, 20 and 50-cent coins, and $1, $2 and $5 coins.

“One down, one to go,” Martin told Postmedia News on Sunday.

“You keep it all at multiples of 10 and Bob’s your uncle – you’ve got a functioning currency system. There’s just no good argument for keeping the nickel except for as a place to put the beaver.”"